I finished the second version of the sump pump alarm. This revision has the following changes:

• 3.9 V Zener (D1) instead of 5.1 V. This gives ~5.1 V to the PIC with a fresh battery. The PIC is rated down to about 3 V at the 4 MHz clock frequency used, so this keeps it running at least until the battery drops to 6.9 V, instead of cutting out at around 8.1 V. Depending on the discharge curve of a particular battery in this application, that could add some extra alarm time.

Well, I replaced the ground fault interrupt outlet that the sump pump was plugged into a month or two ago, and I haven’t heard a peep out of the alarm since. So that must have been the culprit all along.

You may recall that one of the features of my sump pump alarm was that I could theoretically hear it from bed.

It turns out that I can not only hear it from bed, I can hear it from bed while the train that woke me up is still passing through and the life companion is snoring. At almost exactly two AM. So that’s good to know. I would have been OK if that theory had never been confirmed, though.

And as I stumbled into my clothes and outside to the basement door, trying to avoid opening my eyes at all, I remembered Candace asking whether I really wanted a gadget that would

So last night, we were sitting around with Karen, Lou, and Molly, and both Karen and Katherine said they heard an alarm beeping. I listened for a few seconds, and heard the distinctive “long, long, short short short” of my sump pump alarm. I swung into action!

Why

My house is over 180 years old and is built into a hill. Consequently, drainage is a perpetual issue. One seals the stone foundation as well as one can, and French drains are de rigeur, but when it’s been raining steadily for days, the first line of defense is a reliable sump pump.

The sump pump alarm, brand new.